CHAP. 10.--Philostorgius says that he himself wrote against Porphyry on behalf of the Christians.
CHAP. 11.--At the very time of the appearance of this star in the shape of a sword, there were seen also two human bodies ; one in Syria, far surpassing in height the usual stature of man, the other in Egypt, of incredible smallness. The Syrian was five cubits and a palm in height; though his feet were by no means in proportion to the rest of the body, but were turned inwards and crooked. His name was Anthony. The Egyptian, however, was so extremely short, that he gracefully imitated partridges shut up in cages, and that the latter played and strove with him in jest. And what is more wonderful still he had a stock of practical wisdom by no means commensurate with his bodily stature. His voice was far from unmusical, and his conversation evinced clearly the excellence of his intellectual powers. Both of these lived in the time of Philostorgius, and neither of them was short-lived; the tall one dying after reaching five and twenty years of age, and the |505 diminutive one nearly attaining the same number. In this place Philostorgius makes mention of many other prodigies which had happened either at the same time with, or just before, those above-mentioned.
CHAP. 1.2. -- Philostorgius says, that the fast of the fourth and sixth days of the week does not consist in mere abstinence from flesh meat, but that it is laid down by the canons, that no kind of food whatever is to be taken till evening. For concerning Eudoxius, a follower of his own peculiar heresy, who was of the degree of presbyter, though he had lost his genitals, he thus writes, "He was so zealous in keeping the fast, that throughout his life he observed not only those days which the Christians keep, according to the precept of the church, in memory of the Passion of our Lord."
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EPITOME OF BOOK XI.
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CHAP. 1.--[VALENTINIAN the Younger] used to hunt bears and lions ; but while he was only in his twentieth year, he was deprived of his life, his imperial purple, and his field-sports. |506 He was also uncontrollable in his rage, and this was the chief cause of his death. For on one occasion, when he was conversing in the palace with Arbogastes, and was roused to anger by something that he said, he attempted to draw a sword against his Master of the Horse. He was checked, however ; for the attendant whose sword he endeavoured to draw, held him back, and endeavoured by his words to remove all suspicion from Arbogastes. At the same time he found out from the words of the emperor himself what were his designs, and brought them into light. For on asking what was the motive of so violent an outburst, the emperor answered that he was about to lay violent hands on himself, because, although he was emperor, he was not allowed to do everything that he pleased. Arbogastes at the time made no very curious inquiry. But afterwards, when he had dined one day at Vienne in Gaul, and when he had seen him with some low buffoons, lying down and dipping his lips into the river, he sent some of his attendants to attack him. These laid violent hands upon him and savagely strangled him, while not one of the emperor's servants were at hand, for at that moment they had gone to take their dinner. But that none might straightway make search after the authors of his death, they tied his handkerchief like a noose around his neck, and hung him with it up to a tree, so that it might seem that he had hung himself of his own accord.
CHAP. 2.--After the murder of Valentinian, Arbogastes found himself excluded from the imperial purple by reason of his birth ; so he proclaimed as emperor a certain man named Eugenius, who in rank was a magister, but in religion was a heathen. Having discovered this, Theodosius placed the imperial crown on the head of Honorius, one of his two sons, and spent the entire winter in making the necessary preparations for war. But as soon as the spring approached, he commenced his expedition against the usurper: on arriving at the Alps, he seized upon them by a stratagem, and having met the usurper near the river called Frigidus, and having fought with him a severe conflict, in which very many were killed on both sides, at length victory turned aside from the usurper, and placed the crown on the head of the legitimate |507 emperor. On this the usurper was captured and beheaded. Arbogastes cast aside all hope of escape, so he fell upon his own sword, and so terminated his life. After this the emperor made his entry into Milan ; when he sent for his son Honorius, and gave up into his hands the command of the entire West. After gaining this victory over the usurper, Theodosius died of a dropsical disease after a reign of sixteen years ; during which time, as emperor, he had arrived at the highest pinnacle of human felicity. For, having gained fame by his victories, and having chained the crown of the entire Roman empire, and having seen his two sons raised to the imperial dignity, which he left to them firmly secured and free from conspiracy, he died upon his own bed the happiest of deaths, obtaining, as it seems to me, this reward of the burning zeal which he cherished against the worship of images. When the impious Philostorgius speaks thus concerning Theodosius, he is not ashamed to traduce him at the same time as given to intemperate living and immoderate pleasures, saying that it was by this means that he contracted his fatal dropsy.
CHAP. 3.--In the Eastern parts Rufinus held the highest post of esteem with Arcadius, whilst in the West Stilicho held the same position with respect to Honorius. Both of these generals readily allowed the name and title of emperor to remain in the hands of the two sons of Theodosius, while they retained in their own hands the actual authority of empire, each of them ruling his own emperor, the one under the title of Master of the Cavalry, the other under that of Prefect. Neither of them, moreover, was content with the place which he held under his emperor. For Rufinus, indeed, spared no artifice to invest himself with the title of emperor, while Stilicho used his efforts to secure the purple for his son Eucherius. But the soldiers who had gone forth to war against the usurper under Theodosius, on their return from Rome, slew with their swords Rufinus in the place which is called the Tribunal, at the very feet of the emperor ; and this |508 they did partly in compliance with the instructions of Stilicho, and partly because they found themselves scornfully treated by Rufinus. And further, it is to be observed that he was put to death on that very day on which the astrologers had all but invested him by anticipation with the purple. Moreover, Rufinus was tall in person and of a manly disposition, according to Philostorgius. The quick glance of his eye and the eloquence of his tongue showed him to be a person of skill and ability. On the other hand, Arcadius was short of stature, and weak in bodily frame; his personal strength was slight, and his complexion dark. The sloth of his natural disposition showed itself in his speech, and in the blinking of his eyes, which remained closed like those of persons asleep, and were kept open with an effort. These points caused Rufinus to miscalculate his chance, for he thought that at the very first sight the army would gladly choose him as emperor, and depose Arcadius. Moreover, the soldiers having cut off Rufinus' head, inserted a stone into its mouth, and carrying it about upon a pole they marched forth in every direction. They cut off his right hand too, and carried it about through all the workshops of the city, adding these words, "Give something to the insatiate one." In this way they collected together a large amount of gold, for they who saw the head, gladly gave their gold on account of the pleasure they derived from the spectacle. The ambition and thirst after power which marked Rufinus met with this end. Stilicho also, according to Philostorgius, was put to death with his fellow-conspirators by the army, upon a given signal, on account of the plots which he had laid against Honorius.
CHAP. 4.--After the murder of Rufinus, a eunuch named Eutropius, of servile descent, having gained entrance to the court, and having been promoted to the dignity of a Praepositus, still was far from being contented with his present condition. For, since the loss of his genitals deprived him of all hopes of the empire, he persuaded the emperor to appoint him to patrician and consular rank; and thus a eunuch, who |509 could not beget even a common son, became thenceforth the father of the emperor.
CHAP. 5.--According to Philostorgius, Eutropius, who succeeded Rufinus in the office of prefect of the Praetorium, gave orders to transfer Eunomius from the Dacoroenian territory to Tyana, to be there kept by the monks. For he felt envy against the glory of Eunomius, and would not suffer his body even to be laid in the same tomb with the master, though many of the soldiers earnestly entreated him. The very books too of the same Eunomius he commanded to be destroyed by a public edict.
CHAP. 6.--The emperor Arcadius, after his father's death, took to wife the daughter of Bauto. Now this Bauto was of barbarian origin, and had discharged the office of Master of the Soldiery in the West. The wife too was quite the opposite of her husband in respect of his sloth and indolence, for she had in her a considerable amount of the audacity which marks barbarians. Arcadius had already had by her two daughters, Pulcheria and Arcadia; and soon afterwards he had another son and daughter, named Theodosius and Marina. But at the time when he had only two children, Eutropius had on one occasion treated his wife with great indignity; for he threatened her that he would straightway turn her out of his palace ; accordingly, embracing her two children in her arms, she came to her husband just as she was, and crying and stretching forth her children, she poured forth a flood of tears, adding also those other artifices which women in their anger are wont to adopt with the truly feminine design of exciting their husbands' feelings of pity more vehemently. Then Arcadius was moved with pity for his infants, who by a natural impulse joined their lamentations with those of their mother, and was fired with rage. And then it was that Arcadius showed himself to be an emperor, while his anger inflamed him, and prompted to him weighty words. Accordingly he forthwith stripped Eutropius of all his dignity, deprived him of his wealth, and banished him to the island of Cyprus. And not long afterwards, when certain persons accused him of |510 having made use, when consul, of those very ornaments which no one but the emperor could legally use, he was recalled from Cyprus. And when the judges were seated in the place called Pantichium, and Aurelian the prefect of the Praetorium, and the other magistrates who were in high command, had been appointed to carry on the investigation, Eutropius was convicted of the crime laid to his charge, and suffered the penalty of it by the loss of his head. Thus at all events Philostorgius gives the narrative of the event; others however allege different circumstances as the grounds on account of which Eutropius was stripped of his dignity and command, and eventually put to death.
CHAP. 7.--Philostorgius says that in his day there was so severe a pestilence as had never occurred before within the memory of man, in accordance with the portent of the star which appeared in the form of a sword. For not only was the military force destroyed, as in former wars, nor was it only in one part of the world that signal calamities occurred; but men of every rank and degree perished, and the whole of Europe and a very large part of Asia was entirely ravaged. A considerable portion of Africa also, and especially that part which was subject to the Romans, felt the blow. For the sword of the barbarians carried off large multitudes, and pestilence and famine pressed upon them at the same time together with large herds of wild beasts. In addition to this there were very grievous earthquakes, which overturned houses and entire cities from their foundations, and hurled them into inevitable ruin. Moreover, in certain parts the earth opened and gaped, swallowing up the inhabitants suddenly as in a tomb. There were also im certain other parts deluges of rain from heaven ; in other parts fierce droughts and fiery whirlwinds, descending from above, to complete the manifold calamity till it was past endurance. Hail too fell in many places, bigger than a stone which would fill the hand, nay, it was found in some parts of such a size that it weighed no less than eight pounds. Moreover there was a great downfal of snow accompanied by a very severe frost, which seized upon those who had not been carried off by the other calamities, and deprived them of life, most clearly revealing the anger of |511 God. But to mention the details of these visitations is a task which surpasses human ability.
CHAP. 8.--The Huns, who had seized upon that part of Scythia which lies across the Ister and laid it waste, afterwards crossed the river when it was frozen over, and made an irruption into the Roman territory : then spreading themselves over the entire surface of Thrace, they laid waste all Europe. But the Eastern Huns crossed the river Tanais, and pouring into the provinces of the East, made an irruption through the Greater Armenia into a district called Melitine. Thence they proceeded to attack the parts about the Euphrates, and penetrated as far as Coele-Syria, and having overrun Cilicia, destroyed an incredible number of its inhabitants. Moreover the Mazices and Ausorians, who dwell between Africa and Libya, flocking in from the eastern parts, devastated Libya, and at the same time overran a considerable portion of Egypt. On the west they attacked the Africans, and inflicted upon them a similar loss. Besides all these barbarians, Tribigildus, a Scythian by birth and origin, and one of that tribe which are now called Goths,--for there are several distinct and separate tribes of this race,--this Tribigildus, finding himself surrounded by a large force of barbarians, while he resided at Nacolia in Phrygia, and when he had been rewarded with the title of a Count, (Comes,) suddenly became an enemy of the Romans instead of a friend ; and beginning from Nacolia itself, he seized on very many cities of Phrygia, and made great havoc among their inhabitants. Gainas, the Master of the Soldiery, who was himself a barbarian, on being sent against him, betrayed the victory, for he was meditating a similar course against the Romans. Thereupon Tribigildus, as though flying away from Gainas, made an invasion into Pisidia and Pamphylia, and laid them waste; when at last, after having suffered many losses through the difficulty of the various places, and in his battles in Isauria, he escaped at length to the Hellespont, and crossing thence into Thrace, he died not very long afterwards. Gainas after his revolt assumed the dignity of Master of the Soldiery, returned to Constantinople, and endeavoured to seize upon it. But a |512 heavenly army, seen by those who had endeavoured to put the affair into execution, deterred his troops, and freed the city from all fear of a siege; while on the other hand it caused the opposing party to be caught, and gave them over into the hands of their foes. Accordingly a vast slaughter followed: Gainas too was seized with such alarm, that immediately upon night-fall, he broke through the guards of the gates by a sally and left the city, attended by a small band which he was able to rally round him. But since Thrace had been laid entirely waste, and could afford no means of sustenance or offer any rewards for another predatory incursion, Gainas crossed over into the Chersonese, contemplating to cross over thence into Asia by means of boats. As soon as this plan of his was made known to the emperor, Fravitas, the Master of the Soldiery, was sent against him. This person was a Goth by descent, and a pagan by religion ; but he was faithful to the Romans, and most skilled in military tactics. Accordingly while Gainas was transporting his army in vessels to the opposite continent, he came against him with some ships of war, and after a light encounter destroyed all who were being carried in the transports. Hereupon Gainas, seeing that all hope was lost, fled away into the higher regions of Thrace. And not long afterwards certain Huns made an attack upon him and killed him : his head was seasoned with salt and carried to Constantinople. Besides these calamities, the tribe of the Isaurians inflicted several disasters on the Romans. For in the East they overran Cilicia and the neighbouring parts of Syria, and not only what is called Coele-Syria, but all that tract which stretches on till it joins Persia. But towards the north and north-west they invaded Pamphylia and laid waste Lycia. They also devastated the island of Cyprus, and likewise carried off the Lycaonians and Pisidians into slavery; and having driven the Cappadocians out of their settlements, and taken them captive, they pushed on as far as Pontus, and treated their captives far more savagely than was customary among the other barbarians. |513
EPITOME OF BOOK XII.
CHAP. 1.--PHILOSTORGIUS severely censures Stilicho on many other grounds, and more especially accuses him of having aimed at seizing the empire. He also relates how a certain magister named Olympius, seized with his own hand the sword which had been drawn against the emperor in his own palace, and so saved the emperor's life at the cost of great bodily injury, and lent him his aid and assistance in putting Stilicho to death while he was staying at Ravenna. Others call this man not Olympius but Olympiodorus; and they relate not that he came to the assistance of the emperor, but that he laid plots against Stilicho, who deserved well at his hands, and falsely accused him of aiming at the empire. They also state that, at this time, he was not a magister at all, but that he attained this dignity after the unjust murder of Stilicho, as the reward of his crime, and that not long afterwards he was put to death with clubs, and so paid to Stilicho the penalty of his nefarious wickedness.
CHAP. 2.--About the same period Alaric, a Goth by descent, having collected an army in the upper parts of Thrace, made an incursion into Achaia and took Athens ; he also laid waste the regions belonging to Macedonia, and the borders of Dalmatia. Moreover, he made an inroad into Illyricum, and then crossed over the Alps, and overran the north of Italy. According to Philostorgius, he was recalled thence by Stilicho, who at this time was still alive, and who opened to him the passes of the Alps. He says that Stilicho employed against the emperor every possible artifice of treachery, and not only viewed him with an unfavourable eye because he was his son-in-law --(for he had given him his daughter in marriage)-- but also administered to him a potion for the purpose of preventing him from becoming a parent; nor did he perceive that, while he was endeavouring to proclaim his son Eucherius emperor in the teeth of right and justice, he was ruining and destroying, before arriving at his time, his own grandson, and the rightful heir to the imperial throne. And further, he |514 writes, that Stilicho assumed the imperial dignity so manifestly, openly, and without scruple, that he even coined money on which nothing was wanting but his image.
CHAP. 3.--Upon the death of Stilicho, the barbarians who were with him took his son and went away. When they had neared Rome, they permitted him to take refuge in a certain temple which enjoyed the privilege of a sanctuary. He laid waste everything that lay around the city, as well in order to avenge the death of Stilicho as because they were severely tried by hunger. But when Eucherius was put to death, in pursuance of letters from Honorius, which were superior to all rights of sanctuary, on this the barbarians joined Alaric. and urged him to lay siege to the city of Rome. He accordingly seizes the port of the city without delay : this was the largest arsenal of the Romans, consisting of three ports, and stretching out till they equalled a small city in magnitude : a large supply of corn belonging to the state was here stored up according to ancient custom. Accordingly, when Alaric had seized upon the port without much difficulty, he took the city of Rome, partly by stress of famine, and partly by his military engines ; and by the common voice of the Romans, he proclaimed Attalus emperor, in compliance with the permission of Alaric. This Attalus was a native of Asia Minor ; he was a heathen in religion, and the post which he held was that of prefect of the city of Rome. After the nomination of Attalus as emperor, Alaric thenceforth permitted the remaining portion of the Roman people, such in fact as had survived the famine, and had not been devoured by each other, to bring in supplies of corn from the port. Then, taking with him Attalus, to whom he acted as Master of the Soldiery, he advanced to Ravenna with an army to oppose Honorius. Whilst this was going on, Attalus urged Honorius voluntarily to adopt a private life, and purchase the safely of his body by cutting off his extremities. But Sarus, who had succeeded Stilicho as Master of the Soldiery, under Honorius, gave Alaric battle, and overcame him, forcing him to fly far away from the city of Ravenna. Then Alaric seized |515 upon the port himself, and stripped Attalus of the imperial purple ; either on the plea that he was accused of being ill-disposed towards Alaric, or (as others say) because he contemplated entering upon a treaty with Honorius, and considered that it would be well first to remove the individual who seemed likely to prove an impediment to his plan. After this Alaric returned to Ravenna, and having offered to make a treaty with Honorius, he was repulsed by the above-mentioned Sarus, who affirmed that a man who ought long since to have paid the penalty of his audacity, was unworthy to be reckoned among friends. Alaric was enraged at this speech, and a year after his first attack upon the port of the city of Rome, he marched off towards Rome, as an enemy, with a flag of hostility. But the fire of barbarians, and the sword of the enemy, and captivity by aliens, divided, as it were, among them the vast pile of her fame, and the greatness of her glory. For while the city of Rome was lying in ruins, Alaric laid waste Campania, and died of a disorder which seized upon him there.